Georgics

Virgil

Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

  1. Now to tell
  2. The sturdy rustics' weapons, what they are,
  3. Without which, neither can be sown nor reared
  4. The fruits of harvest; first the bent plough's share
  5. And heavy timber, and slow-lumbering wains
  6. Of the Eleusinian mother, threshing-sleighs
  7. And drags, and harrows with their crushing weight;
  8. Then the cheap wicker-ware of Celeus old,
  9. Hurdles of arbute, and thy mystic fan,
  10. Iacchus; which, full tale, long ere the time
  11. Thou must with heed lay by, if thee await
  12. Not all unearned the country's crown divine.
  13. While yet within the woods, the elm is tamed
  14. And bowed with mighty force to form the stock,
  15. And take the plough's curved shape, then nigh the root
  16. A pole eight feet projecting, earth-boards twain,
  17. And share-beam with its double back they fix.
  18. For yoke is early hewn a linden light,
  19. And a tall beech for handle, from behind
  20. To turn the car at lowest: then o'er the hearth
  21. The wood they hang till the smoke knows it well.